


(don't) fight for me

by peachcandykiddo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Captain Ennoshita Chikara, Fights, Hate Speech, Homophobic Language, M/M, Minor Violence, Near Future, Second Year Hinata Shouyou, Second Year Kageyama Tobio, Second Year Tsukishima Kei, Second Year Yamaguchi Tadashi, Vice-Captain Tanaka Ryuunosuke, feral yamaguchi tadashi, yamaguchi is an angry bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26036263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachcandykiddo/pseuds/peachcandykiddo
Summary: tadashi was pretty good at holding his own in a fight. he grew up with nobody but himself to protect him, so he had to learn. and this works just fine for him until he gets kicked off the volleyball team in his second year at karasuno, and some of the guys from the soccer team decide to take it into their hands to deal with him.basically, kei never stands up for tadashi that one time, and instead of internalizing all of the things said to him by his bullies he externalizes it, becoming aggressive and confrontational and getting himself into things, because i love exaggerating little character traits.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Ennoshita Chikara/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Kudos: 22





	(don't) fight for me

tadashi wasn’t always able to protect himself like he could now.

back in grade school he was constantly pushed around, shoved to the ground by those bigger and taller and stronger than him. some days it felt like it was never ending, and nobody bothered to help. he was on his own.

that was why he first joined volleyball. he wanted to get stronger, to be able to take it. fight back even. 

and stronger he would get. middle school was the first time tadashi got into a real fight. 

he always had a short fuse, and would often pick himself off the ground fuming, but never quite had the balls to actually fight back until then. 

that was when it all started. 

tadashi joined volleyball to get stronger, and he did. however, in his second year of high school, just as he was truly starting to enjoy the sport, tadashi was kicked off the team for fighting. 

it wasn’t that he sought out conflict. he never even threw the first punch. he just happened to egg people on, sharp tongue and need to defend himself apparently motivating people to punch him. and he punched back — he stopped just taking it long ago. 

it was getting to the point where tadashi was lucky if he made it a week without going home bloody. that was what ultimately lost tadashi his position on karasuno’s volleyball team, and the respect of every player in that gym. 

he supposed that was if he even had it in the first place. 

now that it was gone — tadashi really missed volleyball. he wasn’t great at it, but it was one of the few healthy outlets he had. 

truthfully — it was the _only_ healthy outlet he had. 

often on the way out of the school tadashi would pass the gym. he never dared stop. 

there were too many people around. 

this time was different though. 

he was on his way home from his most recent detention sentence, passing by the gym just as he always did. 

but today, nobody was outside. 

normally by the time tadashi was released students would still be milling about the area, but now? it was empty. dead silent. 

so silent that tadashi could hear the volleyball team practicing through the gym doors. 

yelling, laughing, cheering each other on. tadashi used to be a part of that — he ached to be in that gym once more. 

at least there he had _some_ people who didn’t look down on him like he was some delinquent. 

he tried not to think about it — but he missed the way hinata would beg him to teach him how to fight so he could take out the big guys he always ran into in the bathrooms. how tsukishima would toss out a stoic “nice receive” whenever tadashi dove for the ball, and kageyama would offer tips for his serves. no matter how unwanted they were at the time. and the way the captains hand would brush against tadashi’s shoulder whenever the team circled up after a match—

“hey, pretty boy.”

his thought process was interrupted by a voice from a group of guys in the soccer club jackets passing through the courtyard. 

tadashi didn’t really know the guy who was talking — but he knew he was an asshole. he recognized him from the halls, he was constantly hitting on girls who clearly didn’t want it and shoving the guys who were supposed to be his friends around. 

“good to see you acknowledge it tsutsumi-san,” tadashi turned to face him, rolling his shoulders back as his gaze landed on the two who flanked tsutsumi. they were much different from him, but stuck around for whatever reason. tadashi didn’t know, “what do you want?”

“ugh, in your dreams,” tsutsumi feigned gagging, “what are you lurking around here for? looking to catch a show? nobody wants you creeping on them.”

“i’m not creeping,” tadashi sneered, locking his gaze with tsutsumi’s. at this point it was a contest of who would break first, and it wouldn’t be tadashi. not if he could help it, “i do go to school here you know.”

“yea but you’re sure as hell not on that team anymore, we all know why they kicked you out,” tsutsumi held the contact just as fiercely as tadashi did, malice glowing in his eyes, “they’re real men, nobody wants a _faggot_ like you lurking around, staring at them, watching them change in the locker room. maybe you should go join the girls team, you’d be better fit there.”

“and you care so much because?” tadashi shrugged, widening his stance. those words stopped hurting long ago. at this point it just pissed him off, “you’re really on my ass so much about this, people might think you care a little _too much.”_

_“what are you implying?”_ tsutsumi’s voice rumbled from the back of his throat as he spoke, a low growl that tadashi almost couldn’t hear.

“i don’t know,” tadashi hummed, leaning forward so he could lower his voice to a soft murmur while leaving tsutsumi still able to hear, “wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea, think you’re a filthy _fag—”_

tadashi had more to say, but a fist was connecting with his nose and he didn’t get the chance to. 

a familiar pain exploded through his nose as blood began to drip down his face, and for a moment tadashi stared down at the ground to let the blood fall to the cement, “ _shit_ dude.”

he chuckled for a moment as his face snapped back up to face tsutsumi, “nice one.”

“what in the hell is wrong with you?” tsutsumi looked at tadashi in something resembling horror, his friends standing by with expressions of equal confusion, “is this some weird fucking kink of yours?”

“oh, not at all,” tadashi shook his head, licking the blood off his lips, “i’m just a bit used to getting the shit beat out of me.”

with that, he stepped forward and all in once motion, placed one hand on tsutsumi’s shoulder, using the other one to slam his fist full force into tsutsumi’s stomach. he stumbled back, wheezing, before dropping his practice bag on the ground by his friends.

“watch this for me.”

“you sure this is gonna be a fair fight?” tadashi shrugged his backpack off, rolling his sleeves up, “wouldn’t want to bruise your _poor ego.”_

_“motherfucker,”_ tsutsumi charged forward, and before tadashi even registered it he was being tackled to the ground. and then tsutsumi was straddling one of his legs, knee digging into tadashi’s dick. one more punch to tadashi’s jaw, and he was spitting blood into tsutsumi’s face.

“you know, usually i like to be on top.”

“eugh, disgusting,” tsutsumi sputtered, caught off guard for just a moment. tadashi used that moment to shove his elbow into tsusumi’s chest and flip him over. that was when tadashi took his turn at tsutsumi’s face, quickly turning into a bloody mess worse than tadashi’s.

guys like him always underestimated tadashi, and beating them down made tadashi feel like he was on top of the world.

“call me a fag again,” tadashi paused for a moment, gathering tsusumi’s shirt collar in his fists and using his elbows to shove tsutsumi down into the ground by his chest, “i dare you.”

“ _faggot.”_

_“motherfucker.”_

“dude, maybe you should stop screwing with him—”

tadashi could hear one of tsutsumi’s friends from behind them, concern laced in his voice. tsutsumi didn’t seem to heed this warning at all, because his eyes remained locked with tadashi’s, as if daring him to keep going. 

and he was about to, fist raised for another blow, when somebody grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to his feet.

“what the _fuck?”_ tadashi choked, pulling the front of his shirt collar away from his throat, trying to avoid the pressure as he squirmed, “let me go! get your stupid hands off of me you stupid motherfucker!”

“watch your language yamaguchi.”

the voice that belonged to the hand pulling tadashi away from tsutsumi was firm — and more familiar than tadashi would have liked. ennoshita was the _last_ person on the volleyball team he wanted to see right now.

“you three leave, cut your losses, and i don’t want to see you around here again.”

something about ennoshita’s voice seemed to scare the soccer players more than all of tadashi’s bravado ever did, and the entire group fled with tails between their legs. 

and then ennoshita was releasing tadashi’s collar, and he nearly threw himself back to the ground as he fought against his old captain’s grip for just a second too long.

“have you learned _nothing?”_

tadashi wasn’t sure that he had ever heard ennoshita angry like this. for the most part he had always been level-headed, even while mad. the disappointment in his voice stung.

“you got kicked off the team, yamaguchi,” ennoshita continued, and despite their difference in height tadashi felt small, like ennoshita was staring down at him, “why do you keep doing this shit?”

“you don’t understand ennoshita-san, i’m not doing _anything.”_

“what do you mean you’re not doing anything?” ennoshita’s voice rose in volume, disbelief creeping its way into his tone, “i come out here because i hear fighting and i see you beating the shit out of that guy—”   
“he punched me first!”

“you think i don’t see through that?” ennoshita argued, “you play with people, string them along, just because they fight first doesn’t mean that you’re innocent.”

“no you don’t get it, those guys are all _assholes,_ you don’t hear the things they say—”

“but i do,” ennoshita cut him off, “you think people don’t call me names in the hallway? you think i’ve never been called a faggot, shoved into the lockers, gotten my lunch stolen?”

this comment sobered tadashi up almost immediately, “i— i didn’t realize.”

“you can’t just go around fighting everybody yamaguchi, this is why you’re in this situation,” ennoshita continued, his voice calming, but still retaining its firm tone, “nobody wanted to see you leave. but there comes a point.”

tadashi wasn’t quite sure what to say in response to that — he was still simmering down from the confrontation with tsutsumi. 

“come on, let’s go get your face cleaned up,” ennoshita started towards the gym doors, and tadashi’s heart stopped in his chest. 

all he could muster was a shake of his head and a weak, “i can’t.”

ennoshita quickly turned, seeming puzzled by tadashi.’s statement, “why not?”

“i’ll never want to leave again,” tadashi simply mumbled, and ennoshita stopped moving towards the gym. 

“ok. i’m gonna go grab my stuff then, and we’ll head to the school bathrooms, okay?”

tadashi simply nodded, and found himself sitting on the ground against one of the gym walls as he waited for ennoshita to return. 

on the way back into the school for the bathrooms, tadashi tried his best to keep his head high. but no matter how far he pushed his shoulders back and his chest out it felt like he was a dog scolded for misbehavior, slinking back to his kennel. ennoshita didn’t speak — so tadashi didn’t either. and then they were in the lower level bathrooms and ennoshita was instructing tadashi to sit on the countertop.

he dropped his backpack on the floor and listened, he didn’t exactly have much grounds to argue.

“he really got you good,” ennoshita hummed, dropping his practice bag near tadashi’s and pulling a towel from the largest pocket. 

“yea, i guess,” yamaguchi shrugged as ennoshita turned on the faucet, waiting for it to warm up, “i’ve had worse.”

“why does that not surprise me?” tadashi couldn’t tell if ennoshita’s sigh was exasperated, disappointed, or something else, “take off your sweater, it’s all bloody.”

one look down at the garment and tadashi realized that it really was covered in blood. he pulled it off, and the button up shirt underneath was just as much of a mess. so tadashi wrestled with his tie for a moment, trying to get it off until ennoshita noticed him struggling and laughed.

“you wear this thing every day, but you can’t get it off?” ennoshita joked as he reached over to untie tadashi’s tie, setting it aside as soon as it was off.

“i never usually actually untie it,” tadashi tried to defend himself, unbuttoning his uniform shirt and discarding it with the tie and sweater, leaving him in just his t-shirt, “just… loosen it and tighten it again. but it’s all bloody so i’m gonna have to wash it.”

“how are you seventeen but unable to tie a tie?” ennoshita laughed, picking his towel back up and putting it in the sink to get it wet.

“i dunno.”

ennoshita simply shook his head once more, letting out a breath of a laugh as he turned back to tadashi, wringing out the towel so it didn’t drip.

as ennoshita began to clean the drying blood from tadashi’s face he was less than gentle, shoving the wet towel into his still tender nose.

“ow, that hurts,” tadashi whined, shrinking away from his former captain’s touch.

“well then quit getting punched in the face,” ennoshita stated frankly, chasing tadashi’s face and ultimately shoving harder so tadashi didn’t squirm too much.

“it’s not like i _make_ people punch me.”

tadashi’s statement was met with a skeptical glance.

“i don’t!”

“you realize you can walk away, right?” ennoshita paused his prodding at tadashi’s face for a moment to run the towel back under the faucet, rinsing the blood off.

“and what, give them more reasons to make fun of me?” i’m good,” tadashi looked away from ennoshita, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the hand dryers, “i’m already a useless homo, i don’t need to be a pussy too.”

“you worry too much about what other people think.”

tadashi knew that ennoshita was right, but he didn’t necessarily want him to be. he didn’t want people looking down on him for things like his sexuality — he was so much more than that. but he couldn’t find the words to say it, so tadashi said nothing. from there, ennoshita quietly continued to clean the blood off of tadashi’s face and hands, gently lifting his palms to wipe them clean. his touch was delicate, calloused fingers dragging up tadashi’s forearm as he twisted it to reach his elbow. by now ennoshita was standing practically in between tadashi’s knees, and he wasn’t really sure how he got so close. 

and then he was getting even closer, wiping once more at tadashi’s cheek and poking it with two fingers. 

“god, he punched you hard,” ennoshita’s breath was warm on tadashi’s face as he mumbled, barely loud enough for tadashi to hear. part of him wondered if ennoshita was even aware that he said that aloud, “he broke the skin. didn’t think a soccer player would have that much arm strength.”

truthfully, tadashi hadn’t paid much attention to the second blow tsutsumi delivered. aside from an ache in his cheekbone where the punch landed there really wasn’t much _to_ pay attention to. the blood pouring from his nose was a much more pressing issue anyways.

tadashi opened his mouth to say something, but was left with his jaw hanging open as ennoshita produced a box of band-aids from his bag on the floor.

“what are those.”

“they’re band-aids!” ennoshita brandished them proudly. the box was bright pink, covered in hearts and cat designs.

“hello kitty bandaids?”

“it’s all i’ve got,” ennoshita shrugged, setting them down on the counter and pulling a first aid kit from the same pocket the band-aids came from, “this is gonna hurt a little bit.”

tadashi simply hummed as ennoshita took his hand and held it over the sink, not expecting much. and then ennoshita was pouring something over his knuckles and it felt like his hand was on _fire._

“shit—” he hissed, trying to pull his hand back from the pain, but ennoshita’s grip simply tightened around his wrist.

“you’ve gotta get it clean so you don’t get an infection,” he explained simply, holding tadashi’s squirming hand where it was as the solution burned and bubbled.

“i’ve gotten plenty of scrapes before,” tadashi grumbled, wincing as ennoshita dabbed a cotton ball soaked in the liquid on the cut on his face, “i’ve never had a problem.”

“better safe than sorry.”

“i guess,” tadashi watched as ennoshita threw away the cotton ball he used to clean off his face, and reached into the box of bandaids, “do you really have to use hello kitty ones?”

ennoshita simply frowned and looked at the box, raising an eyebrow, “i think they’re cute, don’t you?”

they were. and it was endearing the way that ennoshita liked them.

“yea, but i don’t really want them on my _face_.”

giving the box one last longing glance, ennoshita set it back down on the counter and pulled some medical tape from the first aid kit. the sight of ennoshita’s pouting face made tadashi’s chest ache just a little bit.

“if you really want you can put one on my hand.”

with his words, ennoshita’s face lit up, and tadashi couldn’t help but grin as he stuck the band-aid on his knuckles. it wasn’t going to stay for long, band-aids on his hands never did, but he enjoyed the thought.

“you know, uh, you mentioned that people take your lunch sometimes,” tadashi mumbled as ennoshita was packing the first aid stuff back into his practice bag, “my mom makes bento every night, but i can never eat all of it. so if you need food i can… share or something.”

“that’s really nice of you yamaguchi, thanks,” ennoshita slung his bag over his shoulder as he zipped the pocket up.

“well, you helped me out, so i can’t just not pay you back.”

“it was really nothing,” ennoshita simply shook his head, “i’m basically the rest of the team’s nurse anyways, i’m pretty used to it.”

“yea, tanaka and nishinoya do get hurt a lot don’t they,” tadashi laughed, hopping off of the counter folding his discarded clothes in his arms.

“understatement of the century right there,” ennoshita wheezed, making his way towards the door, “i’ve gotta catch the end of practice, see you another time?”

tadashi simply nodded — though he wasn’t quite sure if he ever would see ennoshita another time.

~ ~ ~ 

just as he assumed, by the next day the band-aid was already beginning to peel off of tadashi’s knuckles. the corners lifted no matter how much he tried to press them down on his skin, it just came right back up. 

“hey lady-boy, did your _boyfriend_ have to patch you up after he rescued you?”

tadashi was just trying to eat his lunch and do his math homework when tsutsumi slid into the desk in front of him, sitting backwards in the seat and leaning on tadashi’s textbook, “did he have to kiss your boo-boos?”

“you _know_ i was winning that fight,” tadashi mumbled, not even bothering to tear his gaze away from his notebook, scrawling variables and numbers down without much care as to whether or not he was getting them right. that day’s homework was a completion grade only anyways, “and he’s not my boyfriend.”

“ah, so do you two just hook up then? i don’t know how it works with you _people.”_

“you know tsutsumi, if you’re so interested in how gay relationships work, you can just ask.”

“i already know more than i need to,” tsutsumi sneered, standing up from the desk he had commandeered, “there’s nothing else to know besides the fact that you’re _disgusting.”_

he punctuated his sentence by shoving tadashi’s textbook off of his desk, the book falling pages down, leaving tadashi wincing as he watched the pages crumple under the weight of the cover.

“you really need to expand your vocabulary!” he yelled after tsutsumi as he stormed out of the classroom, only noticing ennoshita in the doorway as he was shoved to the side with a remark mumbled under tsutsumi’s breath.

“i thought i told you to quit fighting with guys like him?” ennoshita laughed, picking up tadashi’s textbook and taking its place on his desk, sitting against the wall, “it hasn’t even been twenty four hours.”

“he actually started it this time,” tadashi took the textbook from ennoshita’s hands, shoving it into his book bag along with the notebook, “promise.”

he could hear murmurs from the rest of his classmates, wonderings about what an upperclassman was doing talking, joking with yamaguchi. and whether or not he was in trouble, because _wasn’t that the volleyball team’s captain?_

ennoshita gave him a look, which tadashi met with an earnest nod. 

“he seems to think that i’m your boyfriend,” ennoshita hummed with a hint of a smile, crossing his arms over his chest, “and that i was your knight in shining armor yesterday, coming to save you from the big bad mean guy.”

tadashi simply snorted, “yea, like he wasn’t the one being rescued by you. i would’ve beaten his ass if you let me.”

this earned him another stern look from ennoshita, and tadashi shrank back just slightly, “yea, i know, i’m supposed to be working on that and whatever.”

“yes you are,” ennoshita huffed, maybe even almost laughing.

“anyways,” tadashi quickly shifted the topic, “what are you doing down here?”

he simply shrugged, “wanted to check on you, make sure your face is alright.”

“the follow-up is very appreciated, mister nurse ennoshita-san,” tadashi looked up to the boy who sat on his desk, raising an eyebrow as he joked, “i’m doing quite well, despite your torturous methods.”

“i think you mean _because_ of my torturous methods,” ennoshita corrected, elbowing tadashi’s shoulder, “without my help you might’ve been dying of sepsis by now.”

“yea, sepsis this, sepsis that,” tadashi rolled his eyes with a grin, “it would’ve been nothing.”

“hundreds of thousands of people die a year because of that yamaguchi-san.”

“i’m just built different,” tadashi leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest and nose stuck in the air.

“sure you are,” ennoshita laughed, bubbly and genuine, before poking at tadashi’s backpack with his foot, “what do you have left for food?”

“so your motivations were selfish after all,” tadashi reached for the lunchbox stowed away in his backpack, making sure to hold it out of ennoshita’s reach, “i can’t believe i thought you were here out of the kindness of your own heart!”

“oh shush,” ennoshita giggled, eyeing the not-so-neatly wrapped bento, “i’m hungry, you wouldn’t deny a poor man a meal would you?”

“i wouldn’t, but you’re so easy to screw with,” tadashi handed over the bento, letting ennoshita struggle with the knot in the fabric, “almost easier than our friend tsutsumi-san.”

“he really comes over from the other class just to bother you?” ennoshita mumbled, mouth already full of rice and egg white, “somebody seems a little obsessed.

“just today at least,” tadashi simply shrugged, “i don’t really get it either.”

~ ~ ~ 

it had been almost two weeks since tadashi’s fight with tsutsumi. since then, he hadn’t gotten into any altercations whatsoever. 

ennoshita’s words from that day still bounced around in his head, _nobody wanted to see you leave._ it gave tadashi a sort of hope. that maybe if he behaved, he could go back. redeem himself. show that he really cared about volleyball and would make an effort to get it back. 

it was _so hard_ not to get baited into conflicts. so fucking hard. it wasn’t like he didn’t get pissed off still, he often found himself walking away with fists clenched so hard his fingernails dug into his palms. 

but considering his track record — tadashi was doing really well. 

until one afternoon, he was walking out of the building, and someone passing by decided they were going to shove him into the lockers. _really hard_ at that. tadashi came away from the wall with a bloody lip, skin split open from the force.

this was no mistake, an accidental nudge while too close to the wall of metal. there was intention behind it. 

“hey, what the _hell?”_ he called down the hallway at the person who had shoved him, and as they turned around he realized it was a first year from the soccer club. _so now the fucking freshmen were picking on him?_

“oh?” the kid feigned innocence, “what do you mean?”

“oh don’t try that with me,” tadashi grumbled, “you shoved me. what’s wrong? trying to avenge tsutsumi-san? tell him to grow a pair and come talk to me himself.”

“tsutsumi can handle his own shit,” the kid stood his ground, taking on a wide stance, “i have my own issues with you.”

“ugh, i know,” tadashi groaned, bored, “i’ve heard it all before. so save it.”

“that upperclassman you’re always hanging around isn’t like you,” he growled up at tadashi, “all you’re doing is making him look bad.”

“what the hell do you mean?” tadashi was genuinely confused. he thought — he had been under the impression that ennoshita was gay too, he seemed to get the same sort of treatment tadashi did for it. he never said otherwise either.

“he’s normal,” the kid spat out, “i saw him with a girl the other day.”

“i’m allowed to have friends you know,” tadashi scowled, frustrated more so with ennoshita than the kid. even though they rarely talked — he thought ennoshita understood. that he was with tadashi on this. and he never told tadashi that he didn’t. he led him on in some sort of way.

“yea, whatever, you’re wasting my time,” he shook his head, turning around and starting back down the hallway, “i have to get to practice.”

tadashi simply watched him leave, now remembering the issue that was his quickly swelling, bleeding lip. it wasn’t bleeding profusely in any way, not to the point where it was starting to drip or anything, but it was still pretty bad. for a moment he considered going to find ennoshita — the volleyball team’s practice didn’t start for a good ten minutes yet. but it was fine. he didn’t need him to fix him up every time. he didn’t really want to see him right now anyways.

however, it didn’t look like he got a choice this time.

“yamaguchi, what happened?”

ennoshita’s voice came out of what felt like nowhere, but as tadashi’s vision came back into focus and his mind returned to the present tadashi realized he had been walking down the hall straight towards him. just like last time — the _last_ person he wanted to see what ennoshita.

“some kid shoved me and i bit my lip, it’s no big deal.”

“it looks pretty bad,” ennoshita shrugged, leaning in close to tadashi’s face.

averting his gaze, tadashi shrank back, trying to avoid eye contact, “it’s really not. i can take care of it. you need to get to practice.”

“practice was cancelled today,” ennoshita stated simply, grabbing tadashi by the wrist, “let’s go, i’ve got it.”

tadashi stared down at ennoshita’s hand around his wrist with furrowed eyebrows as he was pulled towards the bathrooms. he didn’t even realize he was stopping and wrestling his hand free until he did it.

“why are you screwing with me?”

his voice broke mid-sentence, and it was only then that tadashi realized just how upset he was. he wasn’t quite sure _why_. ennoshita was just his old captain. and an acquaintance. who he shared his lunch with sometimes. and the only person left who didn’t treat him any differently. 

“what do you mean?” ennoshita turned around, shoulders falling and expression sobering.

“are you even gay?”

“i— yamaguchi, what’s going on?” ennoshita spluttered, seeming caught off guard.

“are you? that stupid fucking soccer club freshman was talking about some girl. was he lying? or are you just full of shit.”

“yes, i’m gay. i thought that was obvious, why does it even matter?”

“because it does!” tadashi argued, he could feel himself losing control. not getting into any fights in a while was good progress, but it also meant he had plenty of emotions stewing and swirling inside of him, ready to explode at any moment, “because _everybody_ screws with me because of it, and i’m completely alone and have _nobody_ who i can talk to about it, until you come along and it’s great but then i hear from some _random ass kid_ on the soccer team that he saw you with some girl and shit and how you’re _normal_ and not _like me_ and how i should stop hanging around you because i’m making you _look bad_ and so naturally i assume that you’re also screwing with me, having a laugh over it with the guys on the volleyball team because tsutsumi is _right_ none of you want me around because i’m just a _useless. stupid. faggot_.”

by now tadashi could feel the tears pouring down his face, blood mixing with salty liquid and dripping off of his cheeks. it wasn’t like he meant to monologue on ennoshita, it just kind of… happened.

“yamaguchi,” ennoshita’s voice softened, “i’m not screwing with you.”

“and why not? everybody else seems to want to.”

“because i’m not a dick?” ennoshita questioned, seeming confused, “and i like being around you. you’re a good guy.”

“i…” tadashi trailed off, unsure of what to say, “i’m sorry.”

“it’s okay. i understand,” ennoshita continued, “let’s go clean up your face, okay?”

tadashi simply nodded, letting ennoshita take him by the hand and lead him towards the bathrooms.

~ ~ ~ 

for one of the first times in his high school career, tadashi could honestly say he didn’t get himself into this mess. he was laying low, and doing a really good job. ennoshita started doing serving drills with tadashi in the evenings, practicing under the streetlights until the bugs became unbearable and the two would go home to tadashi’s to stuff their faces with leftover rice balls until ennoshita either went home or the two passed out on the living room floor. 

tadashi had something to work for again, somebody to work for. he wanted back on the team before ennoshita graduated. he wanted to play one last game with his new friend. and practicing at night gave him the outlet he needed, so holding it all inside when confronted was becoming easier and easier. 

he no longer exploded when keeping things in for too long, and part of him wondered why it took him so long to get to this point. 

because now that it was happening, doing better was so easy. 

maybe he just needed somebody to push him towards it. 

that’s probably why it sucked so bad that he was laying on the pavement outside of the school, face bloody and bruised. and the rest of his body too. 

his shirt had a hole in the elbow, and his nice sweater was full of dirt and gravel clinging to the wooly material. what just happened was a blur. he honestly couldn’t remember much of it. he supposed he should, it was the first time in ages that he had lost a fight. if he could even call it that. 

it wasn’t like he retaliated this time, and tsutsumi brought friends. 

_tsutsumi._

of course it was that bastard. 

he was just trying to walk home from school. he barely made it to the sidewalk off of school property when tsutsumi jumped him. he wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but at some point he was knocked to the ground, he supposed that was what produced the hole in his shirt and dirty sweater. and at some point his face was smashed into the pavement by tsutsumi’s foot, scraping up his cheeks and producing an intense, searing pain in his nose. and it almost felt like he couldn’t breathe, but tadashi supposed that could be from the adrenaline. 

at this point it was hard distinguishing what blood came from where, tadashi’s face was filled of patches of the dried, crusty fluid that crackled whenever his face moved. 

a few feet away was his backpack, textbooks and papers strewn everywhere, and tadashi managed to haul himself up into a sitting position to begin gathering them back together. he didn’t pay much attention to how he was shoving them back into his bag, he could figure it out later. for now he just wanted to get the papers off of the sidewalk. 

as he stood, tadashi found that his palms were just as bloody and scraped up as his face, gravel and sand from the concrete digging into his wounds. 

he had to go find ennoshita, but one look at his watch and tadashi realized practice had already started. he didn’t want to face the team like this. but the part of him that wanted to see ennoshita won, because he knew ennoshita would know what to do. because tadashi had no idea. 

on his way to the gym, tadashi became increasingly aware of a pain in his knee, and it only grew worse the more he walked. it wasn’t bleeding though, so he supposed that was a plus. 

as he arrived at the courtyard by the gym, tadashi quickly realized that the doors were wide open and the volleyball team was nowhere to be found. 

_of course, they were running._

tadashi stared at his watch, trying to guess at when they’d be back. when he was on the team ennoshita always had them run around campus, which was a few kilometers? he was pretty sure. at the head of the group hinata and kageyama always managed to be back in a little over five minutes, and heading up the rear end of the group ennoshita would arrive before fifteen minutes had passed. so if he was doing the math right hinata and kageyama would be back in less than a minute or so. 

and back quickly they were, because tadashi was hearing a familiar overzealous voice from across the courtyard. 

“yamaguchi-san! what are you doing here?” hinata wheezed as his pace dropped from a sprint to a slow walk, kicking up dust as he skidded to a stop, “what happened?”

“are you okay?” kageyama tacked onto the end, despite the fact that tadashi clearly was not, “why are you so bloody?”

“it’s fine, don’t worry about it,” tadashi’s voice came out nasally as he lied, shaking his head. he didn’t need the entire team fussing over him, all that attention was the last thing he wanted right now, “i just need ennoshita-san.”

“well, he’ll be back soon,” hinata looked towards where they had come from, as if he thought he could see ennoshita if he looked hard enough, “kageyama-kun, can you go get yamaguchi some water?”

kageyama nodded, and as he trotted into the gym at hinata’s orders almost like a dog, the rest of tadashi’s old teammates began filing into the courtyard. and with that more attention was trained on tadashi, until the entire group was surrounding him. 

he didn’t even see when ennoshita returned until he was pushing through the group of boys to get to where tadashi stood, “yamaguchi, oh my god, what happened?”

“it’s fine,” tadashi mumbled, glancing around to the team surrounding them, “i don’t— can we go somewhere else?”

“yea, yea of course,” ennoshita nodded earnestly, “i, uh.”

he paused for a moment, looking around similarly to the way tadashi did, “ryuu, can you take care of practice until coach gets here?”

tanaka puffed out his chest and furrowed his brows in a focused manner, “of course, you can count on me.”

“thanks,” ennoshita nodded in his direction before turning to address the rest of the team, “you guys go practice, okay? i’ve got yamaguchi taken care of.”

tadashi watched as the group of boys obeyed without a second thought, answering with a collective _yes sir_ and a chorus of well wishes towards tadashi. he couldn’t help but smile just a bit at the thought, but as soon as they were alone ennoshita turned back to him, his hands reaching up to tadashi’s face without hesitation.

“i really didn’t want to bother you, but—” tadashi mumbled, avoiding eye contact with ennoshita, “i didn’t want the team seeing me either but it’s just—”

“your nose,” ennoshita finished for him, not so much talking to tadashi as he seemed to be talking to himself, “your _face,_ what the hell happened?”

“i don’t really wanna talk about it, can you just help me out?” tadashi found himself leaning into ennoshita’s touch as he spoke. he didn’t want to admit it, that he let himself get hurt by tsutsumi and his friends. he didn’t want ennoshita to think he was weak.

“yea, of course,” ennoshita dropped his hands from tadashi’s face to his shoulders, looking back towards the gym, “let me just go grab my stuff okay? i’ll be back right away.”

“yea, okay,” tadashi nodded, mourning the loss of ennoshita’s hands on his shoulders as soon as he disappeared into the gym. his knee was really starting to hurt. he figured that he hurt it whenever he fell to the ground.

“ok, lets go,” ennoshita reappeared through the gym doors quickly, just as he promised, and the two were on their way back into the school before tadashi knew it.

“you’re limping,” ennoshita caught on quickly to the pain tadashi was in, and met it with a concerned frown, “come here, let me help.”

before tadashi had a moment to argue ennoshita was ducking his head under tadashi’s arm and wrapping it around his shoulders, turning himself into a makeshift crutch.

“it’s really not that bad,” tadashi mumbled, however grateful he was for the assistance. it did take a lot of the weight off of his leg, “i’ve had worse.”

“have you really though?”

“no, i guess not.”

after a defeated sigh, tadashi fell quiet, and so did ennoshita. the two made the trek over to the school silently after that, and as tadashi sat on the counter once more ennoshita began to quietly clean off his face.

“let me know if anything hurts, okay?’

tadashi simply nodded.

he wanted to tell ennoshita what had just happened, he really did. but there was just this… block. the logical part of his brain knew that ennoshita wouldn’t see him as weak or anything for it — but the other parts of his mind weren’t so much in agreement.

“i’m sorry, this blood is really dried on your face, i’m gonna have to scrub at it,” ennoshita apologized before he was putting more pressure on tadashi’s skin, bruised cheeks aching further. he couldn’t help but flinch just a bit, and ennoshita murmured another compulsive apology.

tadashi felt fine for the most part, it was uncomfortable as ennoshita wiped down the scratches on his face, but it wasn’t bad. however, as soon as he touched tadashi’s nose, he found himself reaching his hands out and shrinking back to push ennoshita’s hands and the towel away. 

“ow, that fucking _hurts,”_ he hissed, all bravado and attempts to compose himself thrown out the window. because it _really fucking did._ pain exploded through his nose worse than it ever had, and that was just from ennoshita touching it. 

“shit, i’m so sorry,” ennoshita apologized quickly, his hands seizing up in tadashi’s grip at the pained noise he made, “will you let me try again? i’ll be so careful, i promise.”

initial reaction through with, tadashi nodded, releasing his hold on ennoshita’s wrists as the other moved to run the towel back under the warm water. he couldn’t help but tense up as ennoshita moved the towel back towards his face, but this time he just gently placed the soaking wet cloth over his nose. the warmth was soothing, and tadashi found his shoulders relaxing and hands he didn’t even realize he was still holding up fall to his lap. 

and then ennoshita was gingerly wiping the blood off once more and the pain was back. 

“ _shit, chikara_ , that really fucking hurts,” tadashi hissed once more, pulling himself away from ennoshita. 

“i’m sorry, it’s done, it’s done,” ennoshita stepped back and held his hands up, “wait—“

as soon as a moment was given to the two to think, they realized what tadashi had just said. he and ennoshita had never used first names. they just weren’t there yet. or apparently they were now. 

“i didn’t say that—“ tadashi spat out in an flustered outburst, “don’t worry about it!”

“it’s okay,” ennoshita smiled, taking tadashi’s hand in his to begin cleaning his palms off, touch as soft and gentle as always, “i think it’s endearing, tadashi.”

he found himself freezing up at ennoshita’s words — or, he supposed chikara now if they were doing this. he liked it. the way _chikara_ said his name. 

“am i hurting you?” chikara looked up from tadashi’s palm, a concerned expression on his face. 

“no, not really,” tadashi shook his head, thankful that chikara mistook his flustered reaction for pain. 

“good,” he hummed, switching hands to begin washing the blood off the other. 

“all done,” chikara stated almost boastfully, standing back to place his hands on his hips, “you’re all clean and blood free.”

“thanks, chikara,” tadashi hummed, deciding that he really liked this. the way his name rolled off of his tongue. 

“yea, of course,” his face softened, and tadashi thought he almost saw the dusting of a blush on chikara’s face as he turned away to run the towel back under the water, rinsing off all the blood that he could. 

“tsutsumi and some of his friends jumped me,” tadashi blurted out without much thought. at the sound of tsutsumi’s name chikara’s head snapped up, turning back to face tadashi, “i didn’t fight back because i’ve been trying not to get myself into shit, but they just. didn’t care.”

“that bastard,” he grumbled, his hands curling into fists, “tadashi, that’s assault you know. you can go to the principal about that stuff.”

“i know,” tadashi looked away, over towards the hand dryers once more, “i guess i’m just worried that nobody will believe me.”

“i get it,” chikara sighed, reaching into his bag for the first aid kit, producing the box of hello kitty bandaids tadashi had grown to love, “would a bandaid make you feel better?”

“i think it most definitely would,” tadashi cracked a smile as chikara was already reaching into the box, anticipating his answer. he peeled open the wrapper and gently placed one on tadashi’s palm, even though it probably wouldn’t stick there for long. 

and then he was carefully pressing his lips to tadashi’s hand, right where he put the bandaid, “and a kiss to make it better.”

as chikara looked back up towards tadashi, dropping his hand, his face was nervous. a crooked smile plastered his face, adorned by a blush that tadashi definitely wasn’t imagining this time, and tadashi didn’t know what to do. for a moment the two stared at each other, faces red and tension in the air heavy. 

chikara’s eyebrows were knit together, nose crinkling in a way that tadashi could only think of as _absolutely wonderful_. his lips were parted just slightly as his jaw slackened, and tadashi could feel his heart pounding in his chest with anticipation. chikara’s hands had made their way onto tadashi’s knees, his hips finding a comfortable niche between his thighs. tadashi really liked the way chikara’s body fit with his. 

_god,_ his mouth was _so unbelievably dry._ not even consciously thinking about it, tadashi flicked his tongue out to lick his lips, hoping that chikara didn’t notice. the sharp, metallic taste of blood was more than apparent, and tadashi was almost having second thoughts about kissing chikara _right now._ because he was bloody and bruised and his nose was _really fucked up_ , but then his hands were finding their way to chikara’s face, and he was leaning forward to press their lips together. 

tadashi’s head spun and it felt like his heart was going to jump into his throat, but as chikara relaxed into him and let a shaky breath out through his nose tadashi realized that this was _perfect._

“you taste like blood,” after a long few moments. chikara pulled back only just enough to speak, his lips still brushing against tadashi’s every few syllables, breath warm on his face. one hand snaked its way up tadashi’s arm, eventually landing on his shoulder, the other finding its way to press his knuckles ever so slightly up against tadashi’s chin. 

“i know,” tadashi mumbled, one hand sliding back to rest on the back of chikara’s neck, using this new position to close the distance between their faces once more, stroking his thumb absentmindedly against the skin there. 

chikara shivered under his touch, and tadashi could feel his hands tensing and relaxing once more as he angled his face to better fit with tadashi’s. 

more naturally than tadashi had ever thought this would feel, he allowed his lips to open just a touch, leaning harder into chikara. and it was _perfect._ until his nose pressed up against chikara’s cheekbone and pain shot through it once more. 

“shit,” he breathed, the hand on chikara’s face dragging down his arm to rest on the skin just past the hem of his shirt sleeve. underneath his fingers he could feel the muscles of chikara’s arm tense up as he pulled back, giving tadashi a concerned look. 

“your nose?”

tadashi simply nodded, biting back another curse word.

“i think i know what might help,” chikara grinned, planting both hands on the sides of tadashi’s face, and then ever so gently he was leaning forward to press his lips to tadashi's nose. the touch sent another twinge of pain through his face, but tadashi was too busy grinning like a mad man. 

“that did help, but i think you missed a spot doctor chikara.”

“oh, where is it?” chikara cocked his head, playing along as tadashi turned his face and tapped one of the scrapes on his cheek. 

before he knew it tadashi was pointing out every scratch and blemish as chikara peppered kisses all over his face, the pair laughing and giggling the entire time. until finally chikara’s lips brushed a sensitive spot on his jaw, sending shivers down his spine, and tadashi decided this was as far as he wanted to go for now. 

he took chikara’s face in his hands once more, using nothing more than his fingertips to guide his lips back into tadashi’s. for an awkward moment their teeth clanked together, beaming grins making things significantly more difficult for the both of them, until they quickly fell into a sort of rhythm. a series of delicate kisses as the pair grew acquainted with each other in this way, hands wandering and meandering as they pleased, one of tadashi’s dangling legs sneaking around chikara’s as he hooked his foot behind his knee. until eventually, “tadashi.”

chikara’s voice was barely more than a whisper, giving himself so little space that tadashi could practically feel the words on his skin, “this is really nice, like so nice, but i really should get back to practice.”

“right,” tadashi leaned back as he spoke, posture slouching and gaze remaining trained down at chikara, even though there was more distance between them now. his hands rested on chikara’s shoulders, fingers of one hand lackadaisically stroking the soft skin of his ears, the other carding through the short hair at the base of his neck. 

“i’d really love to stay,” chikara mumbled, making no effort to move. 

“i wish you could stay tool,” tadashi hummed, gently pushing chikara back so he could slide off the counter and then, slide out from between the counter and chikara, “but i don’t know if the team can make it any longer without you.”

the pair made it approximately ten paces to the door before stopping once more in their tracks, turning to face the other. 

“a kiss for the road?” tadashi suggested with a grin, arms wide open, and then chikara was stepping into him as his hands grabbed at tadashi’s sweater. tadashi’s hands found their place at the small of chikara’s back as the two shared one long, last embrace. 

“alright,” tadashi was the first to pull back, patting chikara’s back as he did so, “practice hard okay?”

“you got it,” chikara chuckled, heading towards the door only to turn back towards tadashi at the last second, “also i think your nose is broken, i’d go to a real doctor.”

“i will,” tadashi smiled with a nod, “see ya chikara.”

chikara jogged back towards tadashi for one last quick kiss, and then he was finally pushing the door open, “see ya tadashi.”

as soon as the door shut behind chikara, tadashi lost his cool. he had _no idea_ what just happened. he just made out with his ex-captain, his only friend like. ever. and it was _really nice_ and _were they dating now?_ and _holy fuck he made out with chikara._

for a few long moments he paced around the bathroom, allowing himself to smile and laugh uncontained, because he knew as soon as he stepped out of that bathroom he’d have to hide it once more. 

later that night, while on his way home from the doctor, his nose splinted and taped to the point where he almost had more trouble breathing than before, tadashi received a text from chikara. he was on painkillers so strong it made him woozy and tired, and he could barely read the message, but he managed to make it out.

**ennoshita chikara [18:03]**

_how’s your nose feeling? the guys told me to tell you to not end up disfigured._

**yamaguchi tadashi [18:04]**

_it’s doin good lol, kinda still hurts like a bitch though,,,_

tadashi found himself breathing a laugh out of his nose, that was all he could muster at the moment. he was practically falling asleep next to his mom on the train.

**yamaguchi tadashi [18:04]**

_how was practice?_

tadashi didn’t even realize that he was falling asleep again until his phone buzzed in his hand and the screen lit up once more with a text from ennoshita

**ennoshita chikara [18:05]**

_it was good :)_

**ennoshita chikara [18:07]**

_just so you know though the guys totally got it out of me afterwards, i tried not to but ryuu managed to see right through me )):_

tadashi could feel his face reddening at the thought of the entire team knowing of what happened between him and chikara in the bathroom. it wasn’t like they didn’t know he was gay, he wasn’t sure there was anyone left at this point who didn’t know. but something about them knowing about this, this thing that was so _new_ , felt incredibly embarrassing.

**ennoshita chikara [18:10]**

_tadashi? you’re leaving me on read_

**ennoshita chikara [18:12]**

_i really am sorry, i tried to get him to back off. i know you probably didn’t want them to know yet. they’re all totally cool with it though you know, and i can ask them to tone down any teasing. i have the authority to punish them with laps_

tadashi hadn’t even really noticed that he forgot to reply to chikara. he was dazed and lost in thought, so typing out a response hadn’t even occurred to him. he figured that it really wasn’t that bad, the team was going to know eventually anyways. it was just… earlier than he might have liked.

**yamaguchi tadashi [18:13]**

_no, its okay, i’m just super out of it,,,! they put me on some crazy painkillers at the doctor’s office,, ^^;_

**ennoshita chikara [18:14]**

_rest up then!! i’ll still be here tomorrow, you need to let your body heal_

**yamaguchi tadashi [18:16]**

_yea but i’m still on the train with my mom and i’m bored )):_

**ennoshita chikara [18:17]**

_if you say so, but i have homework i’ve gotta do, so i’ll talk to u later tadashi :)_

**yamaguchi tadashi [18:17]**

_talk to u later chikara_

“what are you smiling at?”

tadashi hadn’t even realized that he _was_ smiling until his mom looked over and pointed it out.

“some kid just broke your nose i don’t really know what you have to be grinning about,” she joked with a quick smile.

“oh, ennoshita just sent me something funny,” tadashi made up a quick excuse, switching off his phone and pocketing it, “you wouldn’t get it.”

he tacked on the bit at the end just so she wouldn’t ask to see, and it seemed to work fairly well. he’d tell his mom when he was ready, just not while his entire face was broken.

~ ~ ~ 

tadashi looked _terrible_.

he stood in the bathrooms on the third floor, poking and prodding at his face, bruises from the previous day maturing into blossoming red and purple stains. his nose was a deep purple color, swollen and crooked, bruises spreading out into his under eyes giving him the appearance of a raccoon. 

the scrapes on his face were starting to scab over, the dried blood cracking and pulling at his skin if he moved his face too dramatically. 

quite honestly, he looked like he had been hit by a truck.

with one last long look at his beaten face in the mirror, tadashi let out a heavy sigh and began making his way to the bathroom door. lunch was almost over, and he had something he needed to do.

he earned quite a few stares as he walked down the hallway, and even more as he tentatively entered class 3-4’s room. he was only a second year after all, and nobody in that room recognized him. especially since chikara was nowhere to be found.

“hey, do you know where ennoshita-san is?” 

tadashi approached a nice looking girl who sat in her desk doing homework, hoping that she had some idea.

she looked up quickly, seeming startled by tadashi’s voice, and then even more so by the state of his face, “i think he usually eats in class one with the other volleyball seniors, what happened to your face?”

“long story,” tadashi simply waved her off, “thank you though.”

with that he exited the classroom once more, and as he approached class 3-1’s room he heard tanaka and nishinoya before he saw them. and sitting in the corner of the room with them was chikara.

“hey, yamaguchi-san!” tanaka waved him over almost as soon as he stepped in the door, grinning wildly.

“what’re you doing here?” nishinoya questioned as soon as tadashi approached the three.

“coming to get your mans?” tanaka added with a wiggle of his eyebrows, before quickly being elbowed in the stomach by chikara. tadashi didn’t even get a chance to respond.

“shut up, or i’m making you run laps.”

chikara’s face reddened quickly, and tadashi couldn’t help but chuckle.

“like i can’t handle it,” tanaka boasted, earning himself another shove.

“come on ryuu,” nishinoya joked, “lay off of him, it’s special! it’s his first real—”

the rest of nishinoya’s sentence was muffled by chikara’s hand shoved over his mouth, “don’t think i won’t make you run either. you two are doing suicides tonight.”

chikara’s threats were met with a collective groan and sigh from the two idiots that flanked him, and they finally seemed to lay off of it.

“sorry about those two,” chikara shot tanaka and nishinoya one last pointed glance before turning back to tadashi, “what did you need tadashi?”

_“oooh, tadashi,”_ he heard nishinoya and tanaka murmur behind chikara, causing him to plaster a large fake smile on his face and breathe out a long, shaky sigh.

“let’s go somewhere else, shall we?”

tadashi simply laughed, nodding as chikara stood up and began to make his way out of the classroom.

“it was nice to see you guys again,” tadashi waved to tanaka and nishinoya as he followed chikara towards the hallway, and the two waved back, seeming to drop the relentless teasing when it came to talking to tadashi.

“sorry about them,” chikara laughed as the pair found a spot out in the hallway by the windows, “what’s up?”

finally given the chance to speak, uninterrupted by the energetic upperclassmen, tadashi took a deep breath (something much more difficult now that his nose was so messed up), “i wanted to know if you’d come talk to the principal with me. i’m going to tell him about what happened yesterday.”

chikara quickly stood up straighter, his face softening and eyebrows raising just slightly, “yea, of course i will. now?”

tadashi simply nodded. 

“ok, yea,” chikara nodded earnestly, “let’s go?”

“yea,” tadashi hummed, starting down the hallway with chikara at his side.

as they reached the more secluded halls of the main floor, tadashi felt chikara slip his hand into his own, fingers intertwining at their hips. this felt normal and nice. he just wished that they didn’t have to wait for the secluded hallway. 

when tadashi walked out of the principal's office with chikara later that afternoon, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest. to his surprise, the principal had believed it when tadashi said he didn’t provoke tsutsumi. despite the fact that tadashi was in his office more than frequently for fighting, he believed him.

he felt almost like he was walking on air as he and chikara made their way back to their classrooms, until they ran into a disappointingly familiar face.

“what the hell did you do?” tsutsumi growled as he confronted tadashi, stopping him in his tracks.

“i didn’t do shit,” tadashi looked down on him, really not in the mood for this shit today, “you’re the one who broke my nose.”

“you dug your own grave,” chikara tossed out not unhelpfully, grabbing tadashi by the wrist and shoving past tsutsumi. apparently he was also not in the mood for this shit. as they continued down the hallway, tadashi could feel tsutsumi’s gaze burning into his back. it wasn’t until they turned the corner that he felt secure once more.

“ _god_ i hope that motherfucker gets expelled.”

tadashi almost found himself shocked as chikara swore under his breath. he was by no means averse to swearing, but tadashi couldn’t remember the last time he heard chikara swear quite like that.

“yea, i guess,” tadashi simply shrugged. he had other things on his mind now that tsutsumi was taken care of, “can we talk about yesterday?”

as wonderful as the events of the previous day were, tadashi still harbored a lot of uncertainty of _what that actually meant_ for their friendship, relationship, whatever it was. that added to the fact that the team already knew — he wanted to get things figured out as soon as possible. 

“i knew it,” chikara blushed, “i’m a shitty kisser.”

“no, that’s not— that’s not it,” tadashi shook his head earnestly, “you were great, i just mean, what is this? to you? like is it just, hooking up with the only other gay kid you know? is it— i don’t know, something else?”

it wasn’t quite until tadashi said those words that he fully realized how _badly_ he wanted this to be something else. he liked chikara, liked hanging out with him, and he liked kissing him. 

“well…” chikara trailed off for a brief moment, “i really like you.”

tadashi wasn’t quite sure why this surprised him. there were very few things in chikara’s actions that would say otherwise, honestly nothing that he could recall at the moment. 

“and what about you?” chikara prompted when tadashi didn’t respond right away, nerves showing through in his tone of voice, “what is this for you?”

“i really like you too,” the words came tumbling out of tadashi’s mouth as soon as chikara finished his question. 

“then, boyfriends?” chikara questioned softly, voice hopeful.

tadashi simply nodded, “yea, boyfriends sounds good.”

in the silence that followed, tadashi found himself looking around the empty hallway, and so was chikara. 

“can i kiss you?” tadashi asked as soon as the thought popped into his brain, chikara’s head snapping back to face him as soon as the words left his mouth. 

“yea,” chikara breathed, the two checking the hall once more to really ensure it was empty, and then as soon as their gazes met in the middle once more tadashi was lifting chikara’s face up to fit against his own. 

this felt just like it had the previous afternoon in the bathroom, but at the same time _everything_ was different. 

the kiss was short, tense with the possibility of somebody turning the corner any second, but in a way it was even more perfect than yesterday was. because this one held the agreement of a partnership, the promise that came with it. 

“can i come watch you torture tanaka-senpai and nishinoya-senpai?” tadashi questioned as the two parted, hands brushing together and tips of their fingers intertwining. 

“of course,” chikara grinned, “stop by after practice and i’ll let you decide when they stop running.”

“sounds _wonderful_ ,” tadashi laughed, looking up and down the hallway, “i’ve gotta get back to class, i’ll see you when you’re done with practice?”

“yea, see you,” chikara hummed, and when his hands peeled away from tadashi’s it left a cold feeling in his palms. 

_boyfriends._

he liked the sound of that. 

~ ~ ~ 

“yamaguchi, what are you doing here?”

tadashi entered the gym tentatively, nervous about exactly what was happening now. ukai-sensei called over from his spot on the side of the court, supervising what looked like the end of a brief practice match. 

“hey coach,” tadashi bowed his head as he dropped his slides to the ground, slipping his feet into the indoor shoes. he didn’t bother bringing his sneakers, he hadn’t planned on practicing at all with chikara. just helping him destroy tanaka and nishinoya, “chikara invited me, i hope that’s okay.”

“yea, you’re all good kid,” ukai nodded firmly, waving tadashi over to him, “we’re just finishing up a scrimmage.”

“the team’s solid this year, isn’t it,” tadashi took his place next to ukai, watching his former teammates on the court. as always, kageyama and hinata were formidable opponents, even apart at this point, always giving their all despite the inconsequentiality of a practice match. tsukishima’s blocks were a force to be reckoned with, and the new first years were shaping up, the new libero poised to take nishinoya’s place the next year diving and rolling much like his senior. 

“it really is, but not so much without you,” ukai hummed, gaze trained on the players on the court, “we could use those serves of yours.”

“i do miss playing,” tadashi crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly self conscious about being in the gym and not in practice attire. he was wearing sweatpants and a cropped t-shirt, not to mention his choice of footwear, while the rest of the team ran around in sweaty shorts and sneakers. it felt wrong being there and not with them, “i don’t know if you’ve heard, but i’ve been doing a lot better when it comes to getting into fights.”

“then what happened to your face?” ukai raised an eyebrow, turning towards tadashi finally and eyeing his splinted nose.

“it wasn’t my fault that time.”

“feels like i’ve heard that before,” ukai snorted, cracking what tadashi hoped was a joke before turning back to the court, watching as chikara began to lead the team in a few laps for cool down.

“it really wasn’t this time,” tadashi explained, hoping that his tone was enough to get his former coach to believe him, “i’ve been staying out of it, the principal can back me up. some of the guys on the soccer team ganged up on me, and because i didn’t actually retaliate i got busted up pretty bad.”

“don’t worry, i believe you,” ukai chuckled at tadashi’s somewhat rambling explanation, “how would you like to come back? we always need more strong receivers and servers.”

tadashi was genuinely shocked that ukai was the one to bring it up, not himself. he didn’t really realize how much he was valued on that team, but he was starting to. 

“i’d love to, i was actually going to ask about that,” he couldn’t contain his grin as he looked over to ukai, “could you talk to the principal?”

“i can definitely get take-chan to, he has more leverage than i do,” ukai grinned, “we’d all be happy to have you back.”

“i’d be happy to be back.”

“i do have to ask you one thing, though,” ukai finally turned his entire body to face tadashi, “whatever’s happening with you and ennoshita, i need you to promise it won’t get in the way of anything.”

“of course, sir,” tadashi nodded earnestly, “promise.”

“good,” ukai hummed, “i don’t have a problem with it until it interferes, so just don’t let it.”

tadashi simply nodded once more. 

“ok, now go stretch with the team, they’ve all been giving you the side-eye since you got here, they wanna talk to you,” ukai shooed tadashi towards the court where the group of guys had practically collapsed onto the floor to stretch their aching muscles. 

“thank you so much coach,” tadashi grinned, jogging backwards for a moment before turning back around and running to find a spot by kinoshita and hinata. he dropped to the floor and copied tanaka, who was leading them in stretches that day. 

“tadashi, you made it!” chikara grinned from across the jumble of boys, earning some snickers and teasing glances from the other third years, quickly silenced by their captain’s knife-like stare. 

“how’s your face?” hinata interrupted before tadashi could acknowledge chikara. 

and before he could even think to respond to hinata, tsukishima was adding his own commentary, “you look like you died.”

“or like a raccoon,” one of the first years added with a grin.

“no, you know what he looks like?” nishinoya butted in, “those tiny white dogs that old people always have, with the gross crusties on their eyes.”

that comment sent all of them, including tadashi, into a bought of howling laughter that made their stomachs ache, muscles already sore from practice. at this point they really were doing less stretching than they were talking while loosely reaching for their toes. 

“you know, i’m honestly feeling really hurt,” tadashi pouted, remnants of the wheezing laughter still lingering in his voice, “and on my first day back no less!”

“wait, you’re back?” kageyama questioned, brows furrowed under his bangs.

“not yet, technically,” tadashi shrugged, “but coach said he and takeda-sensei would talk to administration.”

“dude, that’s so great,” tanaka grinned, “we missed you.”

“so i’ve heard,” tadashi laughed, “i missed you guys too.”

once the team properly stretched and equipment all put away, tadashi made his way over to where chikara stood talking to some of the first years.

“how was practice?” tadashi smiled, taking a spot right up against chikara’s shoulder, elbows pressed gently together. his appearance earned him some bewildered looks from the first years, who really didn’t have much of an impression of him outside of ‘ _aggressive and fights a lot’._

“it was good,” chikara looked over to tadashi with a gentle smile, his fingers brushing temptingly across the back of tadashi’s hand, “you were early.”

“yea, i guess it took me less time than i was expecting to walk over here.”

“ryuu and nishinoya haven’t left yet, have they?” chikara questioned, looking around the gym for the players in question.

“i don’t think so,” tadashi shook his head, somewhat puzzled. he hadn’t _seen_ them leave.

“i saw them go to put the balls away in the storage closet,” the first year libero tossed out helpfully, which quickly sent chikara off running towards the closet in question.

“those bastards!”

with his surprise exit, chikara left tadashi alone with the unfamiliar first years, leaving him to try and make small talk.

“so did you really kiss ennoshita-senpai in the bathrooms when that kid broke your nose?”

“is he a good kisser?”  
“what did you do to make those guys on the soccer team hate you so much?”

as soon as their captain was gone the first years didn’t hesitate to absolutely _bombard_ tadashi with invasive questions.

“i don’t think we really need to get into that right now,” tadashi mumbled, face reddening as he stumbled over his words, “that’s private.”

“oh come on,” one of the wing spikers complained, “ennoshita-senpai already spilled it all yesterday!”  
“we wanna hear your side,” the libero-to-be begged.

“please?” one of the middle blockers added onto the end.

tadashi squirmed under the gaze of the pleading juniors, round eyes staring at him, lips practically quivering. _god these kids knew how to play their cards_.

“fine i guess,” he finally caved under the pressure, giving the group a defeated sigh, “yes, i kissed chikara yesterday, and i guess he’s an average kisser? and as far as the soccer team goes, i couldn’t tell you what i did.”

“you think tsutsumi’s mad that you have a boyfriend and you don’t?” the middle blocker piped up, wiggling his eyebrows with a laugh.

“you know i really don’t think so,” tadashi couldn’t help but chuckle, amused at the thought that all of tsutsumi’s anger and… whatever towards tadashi was something as petty as jealousy, “i think he just really really hates the fact that i’m into dudes.”

“no wonder you beat the guy up,” the wing spiker snorted, libero-to-be and middle blocker nodding in agreement.

“well i wouldn’t really condone that—” tadashi tried to save himself from future trouble with chikara, he’d probably be scolded for ‘ _teaching the impressionable first years bad morals’._ or something like that.

“if he’s a dick he deserves to get beat up,” middle blocker stated resolutely, arms crossed across his chest.

“if you say so,” tadashi laughed, “but if chikara asked i didn’t encourage any of this.”

“you got it mr. yamaguchi-senpai sir,” libero-to-be saluted jokingly, followed by the others.

“what exactly is happening over here?” chikara asked with a chuckle as he approached the group of first years once more.

“oh thank god,” tadashi wheezed in relief at the arrival of his boyfriend, “i’m being interrogated.”

“yamaguchi-san said you’re a shitty kisser,” wing spiker blurted, and although tadashi had just been preaching about how fighting was wrong he really could’ve clocked the kid.

“i did not!” tadashi argued before chikara even had a chance to say anything.

“yea shinohara,” libero-to-be corrected. _shinohara was wing spiker’s name._ tadashi would have to remember that when he wasn’t busy wanting to kill him, “he said that ennoshita-senpai was an _average_ kisser.”

“i just mean, it’s like,” tadashi blubbered, trying to fix this for himself, “i don’t really have much to compare it to, and they jumped me, i didn’t know what to say!”  
“tadashi, are you gossiping?” chikara hummed, his tone cool, a stark contrast to tadashi’s fiery nearly-panicking.

and just as tadashi was denying it, the first years were giving a resounding, in unison _yes_ to chikara’s question.

“come on, no gossiping without me,” chikara joked as he rejoined the circle, “don’t you three have homework you have to do? it’s getting kind of late.”

“yea, but we wanted to talk to yamaguchi-senpai!” middle blocker whined, shoulders drooping.

“ _yamaguchi-senpai_ will be here for the rest of the year, and the year after that too,” chikara grinned, laying on the teasing as he repeated tadashi’s name, “you guys go home and shower, and _actually do it,_ if i can smell you tomorrow morning you’re running laps.”

the first years groaned, but ultimately obeyed, and made their way out of the gym with a collective sort of yawn. 

“noya and ryuu’ll be out here soon,” chikara explained as the first years left, leaving the two alone with kageyama and hinata on the court working on receives and serves, “they were actually helping clean for once in their lives.”

“you really like to use laps as punishment, don’t you,” tadashi couldn’t help but laugh in response, referring to his threat towards the first years just moments before. 

“i’ve gotta rule with an iron fist, tadashi,” chikara puffed out his chest dramatically as he placed his hands on his hips, “and it makes them listen to me, so i’ll stick with it.”

“if you say so, captain chikara.”

~ ~ ~

“yamaguchi-san!”

the bell for the end of the day had barely rung when hinata was in the doorway of tadashi’s classroom, squirming his way in between the groups of students trying to exit.

quite confused, tadashi looked up from stuffing his textbooks into his bag, “what’s up?”

he couldn’t think of any reason why hinata would be in his classroom instead of off to the gym to practice with kageyama. even if they didn’t have practice that day — the freak quick duo rarely took days off. 

“do you wanna come over to tsukishima-kun’s and study?’

that was certainly unexpected. 

“dumbass, you can’t just invite people over to my house without me,” the other two second years made their way into the classroom as the flow of people moving out slowed, tsukishima not hesitating to berate hinata as he did.

“kageyama-kun and i are already going over there,” hinata explained, completely forgetting that tadashi was there as he argued, “what’s one more person?”

“the point is that you _ask me_ first,” tsukishima shook his head, turning back to face tadashi, “but if you wanna come help me teach these idiots you’re free to.”

as tsukishima spoke, kageyama and hinata fell into bickering once more, about what tadashi wasn’t sure. he didn’t really have anything to do — he was planning on just going home to do his homework anyways, so he figured there wasn’t much difference in doing it at tsukishima’s.

“yea, that sounds good,” tadashi agreed, and shortly he found himself walking along the sidewalk next to tsukishima as the freak quick duo plowed ahead.

for the most part they walked quietly — tadashi didn’t know tsukishima very well. they had gone to school together since elementary, but that was where the closeness stopped. they coexisted for the most part, not bothering to extend their relationship past that.

“it is kind of nice that you decided to come,” tsukishima finally broke the silence, words cutting through the almost tension between them, “i’m kind of sick of being a third wheel to be honest.”

he threw a chuckle in with that last comment, but tadashi could hear the truth behind his statement. but he… didn’t realize that kageyama and hinata’s relationship was… like that.

“since when are those two—” tadashi didn’t know quite how he was going to continue that phrase.

thankfully, tsukishima didn’t need him to, “they’ve been dating for a few months now, a lot happened while you were gone.”

“yea, it really did,” tadashi hummed, feeling almost sad. he hated missing out on things.

“speaking of things happening while you were gone,” tsukishima continued, “what’s going on with you and ennoshita-san?”

“is everybody trying to pry into my business?” tadashi laughed with a dramatic sigh, “i never would’ve thought you guys are so nosy.”

“i mean you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” tsukishima simply shrugged, “i was making conversation.”

“no, it’s all good,” tadashi shook his head, “it’s just this thing that’s so new, you know? i barely know what it is.”

his words were met with nothing but a grunt of acknowledgment from tsukishima, the lack of reaction almost comforting. so far everybody who knew had been… over the top. tsukishima just _didn’t care_ and it was refreshing.

however, that refreshing not-caring didn’t last long, because hinata was backpedaling to fall into step with tadashi and tsukishima just to ask _what’s going on with you and ennoshita-senpai?_ _when did it happen?_

tsukishima was on his side, quickly shooing hinata away with practiced ease, “go snog your stupid king, quit being annoying.”

“ _you_ quit being annoying,” hinata argued, quite childishly, though he did return to his spot next to kageyama, who elbowed him and scolded him with a few choice words.

“i can keep him from annoying you if you want,” tsukishima offered, what seemed like a rare act of kindness, “he usually listens to me.”

“yea, if you don’t mind,” tadashi trained his gaze at his shoes as he walked, finding a pebble to kick along the sidewalk, “i’m still stuck in this whole… anyone who knows wants to beat the shit out of me thing, you know?”  
“i mean, i don’t really,” tsukishima shrugged, “but i understand where you’re coming from. it seems like you’ve dealt with a lot.”

“ _too much,_ ” tadashi sighed heavily, losing his pebble as he looked away for just a moment to meet tsukishima’s gaze, “people are _assholes._ ”   
“which would be why i just choose not to interact with them,” tsukishima agreed with a slight huff.

“i’ll drink to that,” tadashi joked, forcing a half smile.

“you know you’ve always got us too, right?” tsukishima questioned as they made their way up his driveway towards the front door, where hinata and kageyama were already barrelling in and greeting tsukishima’s mother, “even if we’re not your _precious ennoshita-senpai._ ”

_there was the teasing tadashi was waiting for._

it wasn’t a conversation with tsukishima kei if he didn’t make fun of you at least a little bit.

“oh shut up,” tadashi shook his head, shoving past tsukishima into the house, “but yea. i know.”

seeing this nicer side of tsukishima was kind of nice, it made tadashi feel like he had a place with the other second years. like he wasn’t such an outcast anymore.

_and to think, all he had to do was get his nose broken to see this side of them._

~ ~ ~ 

a few weeks later, a couple conversations with administration, and a whole lot of promises to be on his best behavior, tadashi was finally back on the volleyball team _for real._ he rode the high through the entire day, through the end of practice, and even as he was walking chikara home he felt as if he floated above the sidewalk under his feet.

“so you’re definitely not excited to be back at all, right?” chikara elbowed tadashi as he spoke, bringing him back to almost reality for a moment.

“it’s so great being back,” tadashi didn’t even bother to try and contain his grin, at this point his face was starting to hurt from so much smiling, “and i actually feel like i _belong now.”_

“god, that’s so good tadashi,” chikara was clearly having similar difficulties containing his smile, because a beaming, glowing grin stretched ear to ear, “i’m really happy for you.”

“you know, it’s all because of you,” tadashi stopped in the sidewalk, taking chikara’s hands in his and turning to face him, “i couldn’t have done any of this if you didn’t make me _want to_.”

“i think you always wanted to,” chikara hummed, twining his fingers with tadashi’s, “you just needed the push.”

“well, you gave me the push,” tadashi laughed before leaning in to press his lips to chikara’s, barely checking beforehand, not even really caring if anybody saw. because if he wanted to kiss his boyfriend while the sun set behind them on his first real day back to practice, _he was going to kiss his boyfriend goddammit._

chikara melted into his touch, his hands finding their way to their places on tadashi’s face, dragging along his arms and sliding up past his shoulders to get there. 

“i thought you wanted to keep this lowkey?” chikara mumbled against tadashi’s lips as he moved back, keeping his forehead pressed against tadashi’s.

“i don’t care today,” was all tadashi had for an answer, and their lips were slotting together once more, perfect and wonderful, and it felt like nothing could ruin this moment.

“let’s not test our luck,” chikara gently pushed tadashi away after another long few moments, and as much as it hurt, tadashi agreed. he stepped back, and before he even really knew that he was thinking it, words were tumbling out of his mouth.

“i want to tell my mom about us,” he wasn’t quite sure where the sudden burst of courage came from, but he figured, he might as well ride the wave while he could, “will you come home with me?”

“at least take me out to dinner, first,” chikara joked before his face sobered up to respond more seriously, “but i’d love to tell your mom. she’s so nice, i always felt bad lying to her anyways.”

“well, we’ve never technically _lied_ to her,” tadashi tried his best to justify as they made their way down the side once more, hands linked together at their sides, because he felt bad lying to her too, “just— left some things out.”

“i’d say more than a few.”

“oh, hush.”

they walked the rest of the way to tadashi’s in relative quiet, the occasional banter traded back and forth, until finally they reached the front door of the yamaguchi household.

“you’re sure about this?” chikara asked once more as they paused on the porch, and tadashi nodded firmly. this was one of the first things in a while that he was _really_ sure about.

“i’m sure.”

“let’s go then, alright?”

tadashi simply nodded once more before pushing the front door open and calling out into the house as he stepped into the foyer, “hey mama, i’m home!”

chikara entered behind him, closing the door and trading his shoes for a pair of slippers just as tadashi did. he’d have to get chikara his own pair, he was over at his house so often. but that wasn’t important right now.

“hey tadashi!” a voice came from the living room, and with one last nod towards each other, an agreement spoken without words, the two made their way through the hallway to the room where tadashi’s mother sat.

“mama, i have someone i want you to meet.”

he stepped into the living room with chikara just as she looked up from her book, gaze landing on the two in the doorway.

“ennoshita-san?” she seemed puzzled, putting a ribbon in her book to hold her place before closing it, “i already know him tadashi, what’s going on?”

tadashi allowed himself one last deep breath before, “this is ennoshita chikara, my boyfriend.”

for a long, agonizing moment, tadashi couldn’t read his mother’s face. it looked like she was processing, but outside of that tadashi had _no idea_ how she was about to react.

“oh my god, i’m going to have such a wonderful son-in-law,” she practically lept from her seat, crossing the room to place both hands on either side of chikara’s face, squishing his cheeks with what looked to be an uncomfortable amount of force.

“mama, oh my god,” tadashi wheezed, letting out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, half in relief, half in response to _whatever_ was happening, “how did you get to marriage already? we’re not getting married—! i’m seventeen!”

“shush, i’m admiring my wonderful son-in-law-to-be’s face,” she waved tadashi off, and as his cheeks felt like they were boiling over he almost forgot the stress that came with the moments before. the worry that _maybe she wouldn’t take it well_ and _what would he do if she kicked him out?_

for the most part, chikara seemed relieved just as tadashi was, a smile on his face. however, as soon as he looked over and made eye contact with tadashi he could see the _help me_ in his eyes.

“ok mama, i think that’s enough,” tadashi laughed, gently pushing his mom away and prying her hands off of his boyfriend’s face.

“i’m so happy for you baby,” removed from chikara, she seemed to decide that now it was tadashi’s turn to be fawned over, not that he particularly _minded,_ but still, “thank you so much for telling me.”

“i mean, i felt bad for lying to you for the past few weeks, it was starting to feel really shitty.”

“so you admit it!” chikara’s accusing voice tore through the moment, “we _were_ lying!”

“we were _omitting_ ,” tadashi argued, weaseling his way out of his mother’s grasp, “there’s a difference!”

“is not.”

“is too.”

“ah, young love,” tadashi’s mother sighed, breaking up their (quite childish) bickering, quickly uniting the two against their common enemy. tadashi’s doting mother.

faces red, the pair blabbered about how _oh come on its not love yet we’ve barely been dating a month_ and _come on leave us alone you’re embarrassing_ and so on. however, as embarrassing as it might have felt, tadashi couldn’t be more relieved that he still _had_ his mother to tease him and dote on him. that hadn’t been much of a guarantee until now.

~ ~ ~ 

it was the first day of the spring high tournament, and tensions were high. due to their high ranking the previous year, karasuno got to skip the preliminary rounds, and the pressure was on to succeed. now, all eyes were on them. aoba johsai’s newly appointed captains were stronger than ever, the silver-haired prince taking over for the grand king with his guard dog at his side, poised to strike as soon as a face-off occurred. shiratorizawa’s third years were determined to avenge their graduated seniors, and they had all weapons trained on karasuno, as did every other team in the prefecture.

as they sat in the lobby of the building, waiting for their turn to warm up, hinata bounced around, drawing from a well of energy that seemed almost limitless. kageyama was the opposite, withdrawing into himself, jacket zipped up and headphones crammed deep into his ears. tsukishima wrapped medical tape around his fingers, bracing them for any impact that was to come, and the trio of first years who interrogated him that first night stretched in a circle, and he knew their names now. tadashi didn’t have any of these pre-game rituals that the rest had settled into. he just sat near his things, practically buzzing. it felt like his heart was trying to force its way up his throat and out of his mouth.

“how’s it going tadashi?”

a familiar voice came from above him, and as he looked up he saw chikara standing above him, “first game back, you ready?”

tadashi couldn’t have felt farther from ready, but he nodded anyways. 

“we’re up against wakunan again first,” chikara continued, sitting down next to tadashi, talking through the game plan, “their little giant wannabe is gone this year, as well as most of their starting lineup. of course they’re still a formidable team, but so are we, and our starters aren’t as new.”

something about chikara talking through the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents calmed tadashi, all of the facts laid out on the table. part of him was pretty sure that chikara knew the effect his words had on tadashi, and he was doing it on purpose.

so tadashi sat and listened as chikara talked through the entire tournament, up until the regional finals. where if all went right, they would take down shiratorizawa once more and be on their way to tokyo. 

by the time the team was stretched and on their way to the court for warmups, tadashi was calm once more. he followed kageyama to the end of the court to hit a couple serves as the rest of the team received, and chikara made his way to the opposite end of the court, but not without a reassuring nod towards tadashi.

that nod didn’t actually say much, but it said everything tadashi needed it to.

_you’ve got this._

by the time tadashi stood behind the back line of the court as the game was starting, spinning the ball in his hands, he was confident once more. he _did_ have this, and even if he didn’t, it didn’t matter because he was standing on the court with chikara, no, with _his team_ once more.

hushed murmurs rose from the crowd, tadashi knew that he was a wild card, kicked off the team for fighting and back within the same year. _he was going to be the best damn wild card ever_.

taking a few steps backwards, tadashi spun the ball in his hands once more before bouncing it off the wood paneled floor. one more deep breath to ground himself, and tadashi was tossing the ball high up into the air. running forward, each _squeak_ of his sneakers echoed within his head, until finally he was screeching to a stop and sinking into a squat before pushing off the ground to meet the ball in the air. the rubber connected with his palm with a resounding _smack_ , and by the time tadashi blinked it was ricocheting off of the court behind wakunan’s number three, just inside the boundaries. 

chikara looked back at him, and tadashi’s chest swelled with pride.

_yea, he had this. he definitely had this._


End file.
